What caused power outage at Super Bowl XLVII? 'Abnormality'

The Super Bowl power outage was caused by a piece of equipment sensing an 'abnormality,' according to Entergy New Orleans, which supplies power to the Superdome. The Super Bowl power outage occurred shortly after Beyonce put on a halftime show that featured extravagant lighting and video effects.

Marcio Sanchez/AP

Half the lights are out in the Superdome during a power outage in the second half of the NFL Super Bowl XLVII football game between the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens Sunday in New Orleans. What caused the Super Bowl power outage? An 'abnormality,' according to Entergy New Orleans, which provides power to the stadium.

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February 4, 2013

By Paul NewberryAP National Writer

New Orleans

Things had gone so smoothly for New Orleans as it prepared to host America's premier sporting event, the Super Bowl. Then, with the biggest TV audience of the year watching, the lights suddenly went out.

The outage, blamed on an unspecified "abnormality" in the Superdome stadium's power system, was an embarrassment for New Orleans, which was hosting its first Super Bowl since 2002 and was eager to show off how it has been rebuilt since Hurricane Katrina.

Mayor Mitch Landrieu called Sunday night's outage "an unfortunate moment in what has been an otherwise shining Super Bowl week for the city of New Orleans."

He said he expected to receive "a full after-action report from all parties involved" in the coming days.

The Baltimore Ravens had been cruising along with a 28-6 lead in the game when, without warning, the powerto the Superdome suddenly shut down early in the third quarter, plunging parts of the 38-year-old stadium into darkness and leaving TV viewers with no football and no explanation why.

For 34 minutes, the players tried to stay loose, the fans milled about in darkened corridors, and stadium officials scrambled to figure out what went wrong. The Ravens barely hung on for a 34-31 victory over the San Francisco 49ers.

Most fans seemed to take the outage in stride, even starting up the wave to pass the time.

The problem occurred shortly after Beyonce put on a halftime show that featured extravagant lighting and video effects.

A joint statement from Entergy New Orleans, which provides power to the stadium, and Superdome operator SMG shed some light on the chain of events, although they weren't sure about the source of the problem. It apparently started at the spot where Entergy feeds power into the stadium's lines.

"A piece of equipment that is designed to monitor electrical load sensed an abnormality in the system," the statement said. "Once the issue was detected, the sensing equipment operated as designed and opened a breaker, causing power to be partially cut to the Superdome in order to isolate the issue. ... Entergy and SMG will continue to investigate the root cause of the abnormality."

New Orleans was once a regular in the Super Bowl rotation and hopes to regain that status. The Superdome has undergone $336 million in renovations since Katrina ripped its roof in 2005. Billions have been spent sprucing up downtown, the airport, French Quarter and other areas of the city in the past seven years.